Every year Heal the Bay releases a report card rating the beaches along the west coast.  The 2023-2024 beach report card has Orange County topping the charts once again. In Orange County, Summer Dry and Winter Dry Grades outperformed the State averages with 95 percent and 91 percent of the beaches receiving A and B grades, respectively. During the Wet Weather, Orange County also outperformed the State average with 89 percent of our beaches receiving A and B grades.

Overall, Orange County had the most beaches on the honor roll. Of the 12 receiving this distinction, nine beaches are in the OC. To make the honor roll, there needs to be zero bacterial exceedances throughout the year meaning the beaches received an A+ in all three seasons – Summer Dry, Winter Dry, and Wet Weather. This is an especially remarkable achievement given the extraordinary amount of rainfall our region received during the reporting period.

The beaches within our service area that were part of this list are:

• Huntington Harbor, Seagate Lagoon
• Huntington Harbor, Trinidad Lane Beach
• Newport Bay, Promontory Point

A huge shoutout goes to our staff for all the work that is done to protect the quality of our beaches. Without you, our beaches would have a completely different outcome in these report cards.